Mieczysław Character Analysis in Reckoning

Mieczysław Szubanski, married to Jadwiga, is Peter and Danuta’s father. Mieczysław had stern, Slavic features.. Before the war, Mieczysław was a police officer, but he quit due to corruption in the police force. Although Peter admired the moral character Mieczysław demonstrated both before and during the war, Peter and Mieczysław and Peter later had a mysterious falling-out which permanently altered their relationship. After the war separated them, Peter and Mieczysław never saw each other again. At the same time that Mieczysław died, Peter’s watch—formerly Mieczysław’s—stopped. To make up for the absence of Mieczysław’s expressions of love, Magda frequently tells Peter that she loves him in the weeks leading up to his death.

Mieczysław Character Timeline in Reckoning

The timeline below shows where the character Mieczysław appears in Reckoning. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Morality, Survival, and Perspective Theme Icon

Magda never met Peter’s parents, Mieczysław and Jadwiga Szubański, who had been born in Warsaw in 1894. Mieczysław was a policeman,... (full context)

...large bodies spilling out of their swimsuits. Magda looks a lot like Jadwiga and Peter. Mieczysław had stern, Slavic features. He had a tattoo of an eagle on his barrel-chest, the... (full context)

At the London airport on route to Australia, Peter heard that Mieczysław had died. Magda knows that Peter and his father had a falling out before they... (full context)

...private lessons. Because of his seriousness, the tennis club appointed Peter to their selection committee. Mieczysław had been a scout for Olympic wrestling tournaments; his standards for perfection influenced Peter’s tennis... (full context)

...Peter’s recliners. Magda wishes that Peter were there. She also wishes that Meg, Luke, Jadwiga, Mieczysław, Andrzej and Danuta were there: she wants to tell them how well Peter readied her... (full context)